This review was originally published in School Library Journal.
Tag: middle grade
Zara’s Rules for Record-Breaking Fun by Hena Khan, illustrated by Wastana Haikal
Zara’s Rules for Record-Breaking Fun by Hena Khan
Illustrated by Wastana Haikal
Salaam Reads / Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
From the beloved author of Amina’s Voice comes the first book in a humor-filled middle grade series starring a young Muslim girl with an endless list of hobbies who searches for ways to maximize fun for her family and neighborhood friends.
Meet Zara Saleem, the queen of the neighborhood.
Zara’s in charge of it all: she organizes the games, picks the teams, and makes sure everyone has a good time…and they always do.
When a new family moves in across the street, suddenly Zara’s reign is threatened by Naomi, who has big ideas of her own about how the neighborhood kids can have fun. To get everyone to notice her again, Zara decides she’s going to break a Guinness World Record—if her little brother Zayd doesn’t mess things up.
But when she finds herself increasingly alone in her record-breaking quest, Zara starts to wonder if sharing the crown and making a new friend might end up being the best rule of all.
Cover image and summary via Simon & Schuster
Review: Ahmed Aziz’s Epic Year
Ahmed Aziz’s Epic Year by Nina Hamza
HarperCollins/Quill Tree.
June 2021. 320p. Tr. $16.99. ISBN 9780063024892.
Review: Unsettled
This review was originally published in School Library Journal, April 1, 2021. Unsettled will be published on May 11, 2021.
Review: Unsettled
by Reem Faruqi. HarperCollins. May 2021. 352p. Tr $16.99 ISBN 9780063044708
Gr 4–6—At home in Karachi, Pakistan, Nurah Haqq enjoys a life surrounded by family, friends, and visits to the ocean. A perfect day at the beach becomes the worst day when Nurah’s father announces that he has accepted a job offer in America. Her immediate family—father, mother, and older brother Owais—will soon relocate to the United States. Uprooted, the family settles in Peachtree City, GA, where Nurah discovers a nation of unfamiliar sights, sounds, smells, and strange pronunciations. The challenges they face in America, including Nurah’s complicity in an attack on her brother, will force the girl—whose name means “light”—to face her own weaknesses, reconnect with the light within, and blossom into someone she is proud of.
Told in verse in short chapters and divided into nine sections which are illustrated with floral mehndi patterns, this is an insightful and moving narrative that tackles a wide range of salient topics, including ableism, bullying, assimilation, colorism, racial profiling, friendship, miscarriage, and domestic abuse. The brevity of some verses allows the engrossing narrative to move quickly, but also leaves some topics feeling underexamined. Faruqi beautifully weaves Urdu and Arabic terms, and Islamic concepts throughout the text, crafting an unapologetic and authentic look at what it means to grow up Pakistani and Muslim in America. Back matter, which includes a glossary of Arabic and Urdu terms, author’s note, and recipe for aloo kabab, offers additional context and opportunities for understanding and engagement.
VERDICT A thought-provoking and engaging coming-of-age story recommended for libraries of all types; will particularly appeal to fans of Jasmine Warga’s Other Words for Home, Kelly Yang’s Front Desk, and Hena Khan’s Amina’s Voice.
—Mahasin A. Aleem, Oakland P.L., CA
That Thing about Bollywood by Supriya Kelkar
That Thing about Bollywood by Supriya Kelkar
Simon & Schuster/Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Bollywood takes over in this contemporary, magical middle grade novel about an Indian American girl whose world turns upside down when she involuntarily starts bursting into glamorous song-and-dance routines during everyday life.
You know how in Bollywood when people are in love, they sing and dance from the mountaintops? Eleven-year-old Sonali wonders if they do the same when they’re breaking up. The truth is, Sonali’s parents don’t get along, and it looks like they might be separating.
Sonali’s little brother, Ronak, is not taking the news well, constantly crying. Sonali would never do that. It’s embarrassing to let out so many feelings, to show the world how not okay you are. But then something strange happens, something magical, maybe. When Sonali gets upset during a field trip, she can’t bury her feelings like usual—instead, she suddenly bursts into a Bollywood song-and-dance routine about why she’s upset!
The next morning, much to her dismay, Sonali’s reality has shifted. Things seem brighter, almost too bright. Her parents have had Bollywood makeovers. Her friends are also breaking out into song and dance. And somehow, everyone is acting as if this is totally normal.
Sonali knows something has gone wrong, and she suspects it has something to do with her own mismanaged emotions. Can she figure it out before it’s too late?
Cover image and summary via Simon & Schuster
The Thing I’m Most Afraid Of by Kristin Levine
The Thing I’m Most Afraid Of by Kristin Levine
Penguin Random House/G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers
Piece By Piece: The Story of Nisrin’s Hijab by Priya Huq
Piece By Piece: The Story of Nisrin’s Hijab by Priya Huq
Abrams/Amulet Books
In this middle-grade graphic novel, Nisrin will have to rely on faith, friends, and family to help her recover after she is the target of a hate crime.
Nisrin is a 13-year-old Bangladeshi-American girl living in Milwaukie, Oregon, in 2002. As she nears the end of eighth grade, she gives a presentation for World Culture Day about Bangladesh while wearing a traditional cultural dress. On her way home, she is the victim of a hate crime when a man violently attacks her for wearing a headscarf.
Deeply traumatized by the experience, Nisrin spends the summer depressed and isolated. Other than weekly therapy, Nisrin doesn’t leave the house until fall arrives and it’s time for her to start freshman year at a new school. The night before class starts, Nisrin makes a decision. She tells her family she’s going to start wearing hijab, much to their dismay. Her mother and grandparent’s shocked and angry reactions confuse her—but they only strengthen her resolve.
This choice puts Nisrin on a path to not only discover more about Islam, but also her family’s complicated relationship with the religion, and the reasons they left Bangladesh in the first place. On top of everything else, she’s struggling to fit in at school—her hijab makes her a target for students and faculty alike. But with the help from old friends and new, Nisrin is starting to figure out what really makes her happy. Piece by Piece is an original graphic novel about growing up and choosing your own path, even if it leads you to a different place than you expected.
Cover and summary via Abrams
Accused: My Story of Injustice (I, Witnesss, 1) by Adama Bah
Accused My Story of Injustice by Adama Bah
Edited by Dave Eggers, Zainab Nasrati, Zoë Ruiz
Norton Young Readers
Launching a propulsive middle grade nonfiction series, a young woman shares her harrowing experience of being wrongly accused of terrorism.
Adama Bah grew up in East Harlem after immigrating from Conakry, Guinea, and was deeply connected to her community and the people who lived there. But as a thirteen-year-old after the events of September 11, 2001, she began experiencing discrimination and dehumanization as prejudice toward Muslim people grew. Then, on March 24, 2005, FBI agents arrested Adama and her father. Falsely accused of being a potential suicide bomber, Adama spent weeks in a detention center being questioned under suspicion of terrorism.
With sharp and engaging writing, Adama recounts the events surrounding her arrest and its impact on her life—the harassment, humiliation, and persecution she faced for crimes she didn’t commit. Accused brings forward a crucial and unparalleled first-person perspective of American culture post-9/11 and the country’s discrimination against Muslim Americans, and heralds the start of a new series of compelling narrative nonfiction by young people, for young people.
Cover image and summary via Norton Young Readers
The Secret of the Himalayas by Adam Gidwitz and Hena Khan
The Secret of the Himalayas by Adam Gidwitz and Hena Khan, illustrated by Hatem Aly
Penguin Random House/Dutton Books for Young Readers
Critically acclaimed author Hena Khan joins Newbery Honor-winning Adam Gidwitz as co-author of the newest adventure in the NYT bestselling Unicorn Rescue Society series, taking readers to the Himalayan mountains in Northern Pakistan.
When Uchenna and Elliot’s classmate Pai Lu publishes an article in the school newspaper about the Schmoke Brothers’ latest scheme, Professor Fauna notices something alarming—mounted on the wall of the Schmokes’ living room is a single spiral horn that could only belong to one animal—a unicorn. Determined to stop the Schmoke Brothers from potentially poaching more creatures, the Unicorn Rescue Society is headed to Pakistan, where their next adventure is about to begin.
Cover image and summary via Penguin Random House
Jukebox by Nidhi Chanani
Jukebox by Nidhi Chanani
Macmillan/First Second
Grab some coins for the jukebox, and get ready for a colorful, time-traveling musical tale about family and courage.
A mysterious jukebox, old vinyl records, and cryptic notes on music history, are Shaheen’s only clues to her father’s abrupt disappearance. She looks to her cousin, Tannaz, who seems just as perplexed, before they both turn to the jukebox which starts…glowing?
Suddenly, the girls are pulled from their era and transported to another time! Keyed to the music on the record, the jukebox sends them through decade after decade of music history, from political marches, to landmark concerts. But can they find Shaheen’s dad before the music stops? This time-bending magical mystery tour invites readers to take the ride of their lives for a coming-of-age adventure.
Cover image and summary via Macmillan (preview available)